JCB donates $150K worth of construction equipment

JCB, the world’s third largest manufacturer of construction equipment, is donating equipment worth $150,000 to help the disaster relief effort in Haiti following the devastating earthquake.

The gift of two 3CX backhoe loaders was made by JCB Chairman Sir Anthony Bamford in response to an appeal from relief agencies for foreign aid. Both backhoes were loaded onto the USNS Lummus, which arrived in Haiti on Friday.

JCB Haiti machine donationWhen the machines arrived in Haiti, SOUTHCOM (U.S. military southern command) worked with Logistics Cluster (military disaster response) to identify the Food for the Poor as the final end user of the equipment. This organization has long standing missionary operations in Haiti “The scale of the devastation is unimaginable and it’s heart-rending to see the human suffering caused by the disaster,” Sir Anthony Bamford said in a written statement. “There is clearly a lack of equipment on the island and I hope our gift of JCB machines will help in some small way to alleviate that suffering and in the rebuilding in the aftermath of the earthquake.”

The machines are being made available to the U.S. government and its aid agencies, which are taking a leading role in the relief effort on the Caribbean island. The earthquake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale, has damaged the port and has created a number of logistical challenges hindering supplies entering the nation.

The contribution to the aid effort follows a series of other JCB machinery donations in recent years to other parts of the world hit by natural disasters, including the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province in China, when six backhoe loaders worth over $600,000 and a team of operators were sent from the company’s factory in Shanghai to help the clear-up effort in the region.

JCB also donated machines worth more than $2 millionJCB Backhoes leave Savannah late Monday for Naval base to help in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami in 2004, with JCB diggers deployed to Thailand, southern India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Last year the company donated an excavator and a backhoe loader worth $250,000 to help the disaster relief effort in the city of Padang following the devastating earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. —Tina Grady Barbaccia